I love planning for Thanksgiving. Every year I buy all the cooking magazines I can find to come up with new recipes for turkey, stuffing, side dishes and dessert. Sometimes I bring new cookbooks into the mix, too. This year I’m doing things a bit differently as I’ve chosen to find recipes that will use up food I may already have in my pantry, freezer and refrigerator,

Why turkey breast and not a whole turkey?

This year’s turkey briningrecipe was chosen to use up some of the Dijon mustard that’s crowding my refrigerator door. It’s based on a Betty Crocker recipe that I found in Recipe.com magazine. With a few tweaks, I’ve changed the turkey recipe to work with my food sensitivities – agave nectar instead of honey, for example. I’ll also be smoking instead of grilling my turkey for optimum yummy goodness.

I decided to make a turkey breast this year instead of a whole turkey on the off chance that it would just be me and the kids at the Thanksgiving table. It wasn’t until a week ago that I learned my husband is flying in from his new job in Massachusetts! Also, my mother in law is coming up from Colorado Springs instead of going to see her other son in California. It’s a small group, but perfect for the amount of cooking I want to do.

Mixed Mushroom Skillet Gravy from Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. I’ll be substituting a buttery spread for the butter, using homemade chicken broth from my freezer, and using brown rice flour to keep it gluten free.

For dessert, I’m using the package of frozen, premade gluten free pie crusts that were in my freezer and filling them with Food Network’s basic pumpkin pie recipe. I’m using the no fat evaporated milk that’s already in my cupboard for that one and the ricotta that’s already in my refrigerator for their Pumpkin-Ricotta Pie variation. I’m also going to make Egg Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies for my daughter, Lucie to use up some of the organic shortening, chocolate chips and flour I already have on hand.

Heat smoker to 225 -240 degrees F and be sure to have enough smoking wood to keep the smoke going for about 4 hours or so. (Smoking-Meat.com recommends 3 hours of cherry and 1 hour of pecan wood for optimum flavor.)

Place the turkey directly on the grate breast side up. At around the 3 hour mark, insert a digital probe meat thermometer into the breast of the turkey to begin monitoring the internal temperature. Make sure the thermometer doesn’t touch bone or it will get a false reading.

Once the breast reaches about 161-163 degrees, remove it from the smoker and immediately wrap it in a thick layer of heavy duty foil. Place the turkey in a couple of thick towels and lay it on the counter for about 30-45 minutes so the juices that were forced to the surface during the cooking process, redistribute throughout the meat. If you’re worried about the turkey getting cold, place it on a heating pad – seriously.